Alfred Pleasonton

Alfred Pleasonton (7 July 1824-17 February 1897) was a Major General of the Cavalry Corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War after serving in the Mexican-American War.

Biography
Alfred Pleasonton was the son of politician Stephen Pleasonton and was born in Washington, D.C. He graduated from West Point in 1844 and became a Second Lieutenant of the 1st US Dragoons. He fought in the Mexican-American War at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma in 1846, and at the start of the American Civil War, he fought in Virginia. He fought in the Peninsula Campaign and the Battle of Antietam, and he prevented the destruction of the XI Corps at the Battle of Chancellorsville, and Joseph Hooker told Abraham Lincoln that Pleasonton saved the Union army.

In 1863 Pleasonton was famous for his victory in the Battle of Brandy Station, and fought in the Battle of Gettysburg in July. In 1864 he was sent to Missouri and fought in the "Gettysburg of the West" at the Battle of Westport, which ended the Confederate resistance to the Union in the state. For his leniency to Confederate prisoners by sending them to Montana rather than interning them in poor POW camps, he was made a Major General. He retired in 1888 and became Commissioner for Internal Revenue. He died in his sleep at the age of 72.